A MURAL which has brightened up people’s lives has been removed after complaints to Southend Council.

The brightly-coloured mural outside Spice Boat, on the corner of London Road and Elmsleigh Drive, Leigh, depicted a number of brightly-coloured portraits of people from the Indian subcontinent, East Asia and Europe, as well as an elephant.

It was commissioned a month ago by the shop’s owner, Kobir Hussain, as a way of brightening up the area.

It received many positive comments in the shop and on social media, but it seems it was not to everyone’s taste.

A letter arrived from the council pointing out the artwork had not been authorised and now it has been whitewashed over.

Mr Hussain said: “I asked my friend Paul to do it and he spent a lot of time and effort on it, but then we got a letter from the council asking us to take it down because there have been two complaints so, the next day I just painted it over.

“It’s a shame really because I thought it looked fantastic and we had lots of positive comments on it from people coming in, but now they’re all asking what happened to it.

“But we don’t want to upset anyone, we just want to be a happy shop in the heart of the community.”

Artist Michelle Goldman, 30, of Leigh’s Secret Art Club said: “It’s such a shame because I thought it really brightened up the street.

“Leigh is such a creative place that this sort of thing should really be encouraged rather than covered up.”

Street artist John Bulley added: “It’s outrageous. the mural was beautiful and this was just a typical overreaction from a council which wants to be City of Culture but wouldn’t know culture if it bit it on the backside.

“I actually stopped my car when I first saw it so I could get some photos up on Facebook.”

A council spokesman said: “The council received a complaint regarding the mural last month. As the mural was linked to a business it required advertising consent.

“Officers informally made the owner of the property aware of this, and advised that consent should either be sought or the mural removed.

“The owner volunteered to remove the mural rather than apply for consent.”